Villette by Charlotte Bronte

BRLSI’s Victorian Literature Group discusses Charlotte Brontë’s novel Villette, exploring loneliness, love, and the struggle for independence in a pensionnat in Brussels.

Villette follows the story of Lucy Snowe, a young Englishwoman who moves to the fictional town of “Villette” (her name for Brussels) to teach at a girls’ school after a series of personal tragedies. Quiet, introspective, and observant, Lucy struggles with feelings of loneliness and unrequited love. Her complex relationships with the fiery schoolmaster, Monsieur Paul Emanuel, and the Englishman, Dr John Graham Bretton, explore themes of isolation, identity, and female independence.

Semi-autobiographical, the novel draws on Brontë’s own experiences in Belgium, highlighting the restricted social position of well-educated women of the time, whose only respectable profession was that of a governess.

Join us to discuss why Villette is one of Brontë’s most intriguing and psychologically rich works, comparing very favourably to the more famous Jane Eyre.

Discussion led by Victoria Trenchard.